Man sentenced to death in Alabama sex-slaying

Man sentenced to death in Alabama sex-slaying

CLANTON, Ala. - A judge ordered a death sentence Friday for a man convicted of killing a woman after forcing her at gunpoint to perform sex acts.

Circuit Judge Sibley Reynolds followed a jury's recommendation in handing down the sentence for James Osgood, 44, of Shelby County. A Chilton County jury convicted Osgood of two counts of capital murder in May and unanimously recommended capital punishment. The convictions involved killing a person during the course of rape and sodomy.

"I can't think of a darker set of facts than what you have given us," the judge told Osgood.

Osgood showed no emotion when the judge announced the sentence.

Prosecutors said Osgood made Tracy Brown perform sex acts on him and his girlfriend and then cut the woman's throat and stabbed her twice in the back. The crime occurred at the victim's mobile home in the Enterprise community in October 2010.

Jackie Wileman, Brown's stepmother, told the judge, "I can't imagine anyone doing that to someone, even their worst enemy. I don't know what kind of mind has that kind of thinking."

Osgood's co-defendant and girlfriend at the time, 44-year-old Tonya Vandyke of Billingsley, has pleaded not guilty and faces trial in December on capital murder charges. Prosecutors said she and the victim were cousins and worked together at a health care company.